I’m getting tired of making lemonade. You know, if God hands you lemons, make lemonade? Maybe my life would take an upward swing if He’d choose to toss a few apples my way. I know I’d enjoy easing a big forkful of apple pie into my churning belly right about now, maybe with a little vanilla ice cream dripping down the sides. There’s just something about the scent of cinnamon and the sugary taste of warm apple pie that calms the nerves in a tense situation.
Sandra’s flash stories have appeared in Futures, Mysterical-E, and one upcoming in the summer issue of Demolition.
Bethany pulled her car into the gas station parking lot and parked it as far as she could from the growing snow drifts. That had been her mistake the last time she had tried this. The tires of her rusting Corsica had caught in a snow bank and she had spun her wheels for several minutes until the cops came for her. It had been an amateur’s mistake, one that she had dreaded relaying to her fellow inmates at Taycheedah, and she had no intention of doing it again. As it was her mother was probably already angry with her for the years of missed visits, and another conviction for Bethany would only change that anger into righteous wrath.
Tobi Schultz is a young writer currently living in Wisconsin. Although published in several sci-fi and fantasy publications under a different name, this is Tobi’s first published crime story.
Shred is now open to submissions of original short fiction, as well as reprints, flash, and serial fiction. See the guidelines for full details.
“A sperm bank?â€
Randy Rhoades looked at his brother-in-law as they pulled into the parking lot of a run down strip mall on the outskirts of Detroit.
“It’s a fertility clinic,†Darrell Abbott said.
“What’s the difference?â€
“Well, there’s…I mean…just shut up and come on.â€
Bryon Quertermous’s first play was a shameless rip-off of The Maltese Falcon and was produced when he was 19. He’s been shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association Debut Dagger and his fiction has appeared in Shots, Noir Originals, CrimeSpree, Crime Scene Scotland, ThugLit, and Hardluck Stories among others. He is the editor and publisher of Demolition magazine in a debt of literary karma.
There is a dark world you can only get to through love, when you realize you’ve given all you can, and it’s still not enough to hold on to someone. There’s power when you have nothing left to lose.
You think of these things as you walk briskly down the crowded aisles of the store, high heels clicking a warning to those ahead. You pass men, not looking for long enough to catch their eye. You stop a woman who seems to work there and ask her where the ties are kept.
Dark ones. Ties suitable for a funeral.
Gerri Leen lives in Northern Virginia and originally hails from Seattle. In addition to Shred of Evidence, her stories have appeared in Fusion Fragment, Mytholog, and The First Line. Her work has also been accepted by the Sails & Sorcery anthology, Renard’s Menagerie, GlassFire, GrendelSong, and the Fantastical Visions V anthology. Her website is at www.gerrileen.com.
Monday 9:00 AM
“Cal, I hate your new machine message. You should change it. Well, anyway that’s not why I called. I expected you to stop by last night.
“Did I do or say something to make you angry?